Never a Dull Day
by YogaForever
Summary: Shadow, spy for GUN. Sonic, the person messing up his mission. At least there's never a dull day between them. Action! Drama! Spies!


**Never a Dull Day **

by

_Nana _

He sat alone and waiting. His eyes had glazed over, lost in the millions of blinking lights below him -cars, and stores, and theaters and spotlights- lost in the buildings stretching out and away. High above him like their tops were touching clouds. He'd been that high once. Touched stars and kissed clouds...He was crashing down. But was rescued.

It was a long time ago. He was confused back then - lost and scared and alone. But not like now. The alone from before was so different than the alone he was now. He was just sitting up here in solitude, but he was content with that. Content with waiting. No. The alone before this was terrifying and trembling and so incredibly lonely.

The night slowly dwindled as he waited for his contact. Rouge was supposed to be making small talk with a very important person in the building below him. He sat up on the roof, feet hanging over the edge, careless in his confidence. Once she got the information they needed, he was to Chaos Control them back to base.

All he had were his thoughts and the blinking starless night to keep him company.

Recently, he preferred not to think much about anything. So he stared into the soulless heart of Station Square.

"Nice night for stargazing, isn't it?"

At the sound of Sonic's voice, he turned. "What are you doing here, Hedgehog?"

"Can't a guy drop in on his pal?" Sonic shrugged fluidly before swiftly moving closer to Shadow. He saddled himself on the ledge Shadow was perched on. He faced Shadow's profile with a little knowing smirk. "So, what's up?"

"None of your concern." Shadow said without hesitation.

"Please." Sonic rolled his eyes.

"And from where did you learn of my location?"

"I was just in the neighborhood and saw you hangin' here and thought I'd stop by and make nice, ya know?" Sonic replied airily, leaning down to lay on his back.

Shadow grunted in response, ready to write off Sonic's presence entirely. But then he became curious. "Seriously, Sonic, what are you doing here?"

"Well, some rich dude's got a certain Emerald that doesn't belong to 'im. And, as a favor to my old friend Knuckles, Tails and I have decided to get it back for him."

"That explains why you're after my target. But I don't understand why you're here, where Mammoth Mogul -or, as you put it, some rich guy- is throwing another of his extravagant galas when you could be hunting down the Master Emerald with one of Tails' many tracking devices." Shadow said. As build-up. But Sonic cut him off first.

"Dude, ya think I dressed like this for fun?" Shadow glanced at Sonic. He was in a fine tuxedo, with tie and all, laying on some dirty building. Rouge would shudder. "The M.E. is here, man."

"I figured as much. Where?"

"Where what?"

"Where in the building is the Master Emerald?" Shadow was finally looking at Sonic as more than a speck on his shoulder.

And Sonic wasn't even paying attention to the stern gaze of Shadow. Instead, he looked off into the distance. The lights played orange and gold in his green eyes. When he finally replied, he sounded bothered by it: "Now, Shadz... You know we've got this great relationship going and everything -and that's great- but I can't let you go and take Knux's Emerald back to your GUN base. It's kind of his."

"Finders Keepers, Hedgehog." Shadow scoffed.

"Exactly. So when we find it first, we're keeping it. Cool with you?"

"Not entirely." Shadow said with a bristle in his voice. "It's our mission to locate and obtain the Master Emerald for testing."

"Dude, you realize there's an island in an ocean right now waiting for it's rocket fuel?"

"Do you realize that Angel Island is an abandoned hunk of earth spare for that thickheaded Knuckles? Do you realize that nobody is harmed in the island being just an island? It might sink into the ocean. But, again, it's abandoned. GUN wants to run testing on the Master Emerald. It kept an island afloat for hundreds of years - imagine it's magical properties."

He looked at Sonic, only to realize the blue hedgehog was spinning his index finger in a circle by his right temple. He stopped and grinned. Waved shortly at Shadow. Shadow narrowed his eyes. "Shadz... That just went in one ear and straight out the other."

"Should I have expected any less?" Shadow smirked with condescension.

"Hey..."

"You set that one up for me, Hedgehog." Shadow rose to his feet. Jumped down from the ledge onto the roof. He pressed a button on a wristband he wore. "This is Shadow to Rouge. I've just confirmed with an outside source that the Master Emerald is in the building."

On the other end, there was a shuffling and Rouge excusing herself. She was alone. "What outside source?"

"Hi Rouge darling! Remember me? Sonic?" Sonic called from his relaxed place.

"Sonic is with you?" Rouge asked.

"Apparently, he and his friends have been tracking down the Emerald as well."

"Well, Knuckles is rather protective of the thing. How'd they get in?"

Shadow glanced at Sonic.

"Honey, I am Sonic the fucking Hedgehog. Party? Ball? Gala? I'm in if I want in."

"Nice to know his modesty is still intact, isn't it?" Rouge asked. Shadow smirked.

"Certainly is. If he's the one who intercepted the gala tonight, he probably knows where Mogul is keeping the damn thing. I'll get him to lead me to it and we'll rendezvous with you in the back garden, west side."

"ETA?"

"Give me ten minutes."

"Ten?"

"Just want to give you some time to leave Mogul's side. From what I've been listening to over the intercom, you two have been having quite the intellectual conversation."

"Shadow...He's boring me to tears." Rouge tittered. "See you in five, sweetheart. Don't be late now. A woman hates being stood up on a date."

"Right. Over and out." And Shadow disconnected them.

"Nice to know GUN still has their free will policy going strong." Sonic grumbled sarcastically.

"Get up, Hedgehog. We've got work to do. You might not take this seriously, but this is a matter of--"

"–What? National Security? Life or death? Please. Spare me the big-time spy drama."

"The only life in danger here is-"

"-Mine? If I don't show you where the Emerald is immediately." Sonic laughed mockingly.

"Do not agitate me, Hedgehog." Shadow moved in eerily quiet steps to stand over Sonic. The darkness of the roof casting thick shadows on his face. Only the flickering city lights let Sonic see the dead serious gleam in Shadow's eye.

"Why?" Sonic challenged, sitting up again. Leaning back on his palms like nothing in the world bothered him. "Am I in danger?"

Shadow placed one hand on Sonic's shoulder - ensuring him that he wasn't going anywhere. "Are you?"

Shadow gave Sonic a moment to remember how high up they were. His hand tightened on Sonic's shoulder.

"Just tell me where the Emerald is. It belongs to GUN now. Knuckles has proven himself to be an ineffective guardian."

"He's better suited to the task than GUN. Seriously. They can't even tell apart you from me. You want me to trust those guys with something as powerful as the M.E.? Not happening."

"So then," Shadow pushed Sonic slowly off the edge, keeping his hand firmly on Sonic's shoulder the whole time. He held him above the honking horns and flashy, deadly lights. "It appears I have some convincing to do." He released his grip on Sonic and regained it just as quickly. Sonic stared at him wide-eyed.

"You try'na kill me?" Sonic gasped, throat suddenly thick and dry.

"Perhaps." Shadow sneered. "But only if you prove yourself to be useless. So, are you going to tell me where the Emerald is? Or do I have to drop you from this _terribly tall _building and force Rouge to pretend she's enjoying Mogul's company?"

A few more moments passed with Shadow smiling superiorly at Sonic and Sonic staring back with petrified eyes and a racing heart. Once his heartbeat slowed, though, a cheeky little grin worked its way up Sonic's face.

"I thought you were the Ultimate Lifeform. I thought you could sense the Master Emerald."

"Normally, I'd be able to. But Mogul must have some sort of cloaking device on the damn thing."

Sonic knew that fleck of anger in Shadow's eyes. Shadow was irritated by being weak to a simple cloaking trick, was he? Sonic's grin grew.

"You're close. But Mogul's only interested in the Master Emerald for its global black market value. Or, at least, that's as far as Tails can figure. Tails reckons Mogul doesn't even realize all that magical shit you were rambling about. Get what I'm saying?"

"Are you telling me Mogul wouldn't cloak it?" Shadow growled. His grip on Sonic tightened again - this time piercing into his skin. Something dawned on Shadow. Something that made Shadow grip Sonic by the neck. "It was you. Tails. You guys cloaked it, didn't you?"

"How's GUN's firewalls? Getting any viruses lately? We just knew you guys would jack-off at the chance of getting your scientific little hands around the Master Emerald. I remember how interested the government was in the Chaos Emeralds after the Chaos-water-god fiasco. Let's just say, we took some precautionary measures."

"You bastard. Then, what's all this? Why even bother coming up here to _chat?_"

"'Cause I'm not the one extracting the M.E.. Tails is. I'm just here as a distraction." Sonic, though sounding choked, was quite pleased with himself. It showed in his eyes. His arrogant eyes. Shadow wanted to snap his neck.

Then: "Sonic? This is Tails. Come in. We've successfully retrieved the Master Emerald. Fall back. Rendezvous in 3 minutes."

Sonic couldn't reach his belt, where the tiny walkie-talkie Shadow hadn't noticed before was. Shadow took it for him. Pressed the 'Send' button, and held it to Sonic's mouth.

"Read ya loud in clear. Be there in two minutes."

Tails chuckled. "See ya."

Shadow crushed the walkie-talkie in his palm. He only used one hand around Sonic's throat to keep the hedgehog from careening with the sidewalk.

"We should probably wrap things up here. We win this time, Shadz."

"I suppose you do." Shadow pulled Sonic up, putting him on his feet in front of himself. He even dusted the dirt from his shoulder.

"Nice talk, eh?"

"Indeed." Shadow put his hands on Sonic's shoulders. "Go to your friends now."

And he pushed him. Over the ledge and off the building.

Then he turned around. Contacted Rouge on the intercom. "Rouge? This is Shadow. Mission failed. I repeat: Mission. Failed. Return to the rendezvous point - attracting as little attention as possible. I'll be taking us back to base."

"What about Sonic?"

"Hm? What about him? He was just dropping by. But he had some other people to drop by, apparently."

"Sonic's got the Master Emerald, doesn't he?"

"Regrettably."

"Where is he?" Rouge sounded suspicious, but excited too. She loved a good story.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be fine. Damn bastard doesn't even know how to die properly."

He was right. Sonic was very fine. Walking down the sidewalk without consequence. Not at all as if he'd just barely caught his footing on the side of the building and used his super-speed to prevent himself from going splat in a very ugly way. Not at all. And being himself, he got to the meet-up point way ahead of Tails and Knuckles. So he sat.

He sat alone and waiting. His eyes had glazed over, lost in the millions of blinking lights beyond him -the city, the gala, the glint in Shadow's eye just before shoving him- lost in the memory of it all.

There was never a dull day around here.


End file.
